Lady Pats soccer team blanks Malden, 2-0

By Dom Nicastro

The Revere High School girls soccer team notched its first win of the season with a 2-0 win over Malden. Nataly Esquivel-Oliva scored both goals for the Patriots. Sandra Torres got on the score sheet with an assist. Goalkeeper Nisrin Sekkat recorded her first shoutout of the year.

“We had a ton of scoring opportunities from Samarah Paiva, Emily Torres, Erika Mejia, Catalina Chizavo and Kesley Morales,” Revere coach Megan O’Donnell said. “We had a solid defensive from Ari Pina, Giselle Salvador, Fatima Oliva and Sandra Torres and Samarah Paiva.”

O’Donnell’s team comes into the season looking strong with great leadership from captains Jessica Nova Galvez, Ari Pina, Samarah Paiva and Giselle Salvador.

O’Donnell, currently in her 10th year of coaching at Revere, brings the team into the fall season hoping to get back to the top of the Greater Boston League. In 2019, the Patriots won the school’s first GBL championship.

O’Donnell played college soccer at Regis College from sophomore to senior year. She played goalie and held 10 school records for a few years before they moved conferences. “I really enjoyed college soccer so I wanted to continue coaching at the high school level,” O’Donnell said.

This year, Revere is mostly returners who have been starting on varsity since their freshman year. “We have a very talented freshman class coming in as well,” O’Donnell said. “The coaching staff is really confident that this team can be a contender for the GBL title. We have a solid backfield and midfield. We just have to find the opponent’s goal every game in order to win. We have strong leaders on this team and they are hungry. One weakness might be staying healthy.”

The captains have been the backbone of this team since their freshman year. Nova Galvez joined the team her sophomore year and worked her tail off to earn the “C” on her jersey, which was voted on by the other three captains.

“Our goal for the season is obviously to win games, but also be a contender to win the GBL and make the tournament and not lose in the first round like years past,” the coach said.

Sekkat is a junior goalkeeper who stepped up in her freshman year when the Patriots didn’t have a keeper for the starting role. “Nisrin works hard and comes up big when needed,” O’Donnell said. “I feel like this is going to be her breakout season.”

Oliva is a sophomore who should make some noise. She started as a freshman. Midfield features Erika Mejia, Sandra Torres, Catalina Chizavo and Nova Galvez – moving the ball well upfield to get Esquivel-Oliva and Morales the ball in the win over Malden.

The GBL is a tough conference, with Lynn Classical, Medford and Somerville always the hardest opponents, according to the coach, who added, “we have to be playing nothing but our best against them each game.”